MUTANTS

A few years ago I was researching for one of my kids’ stories to companion my kids’ songs. This week Philly Chatterton, a Foley Artist from Toronto, added sound effects to the radio play version of ‘Celebrate the Colors.’

I was speaking with a next door neighbor who moved here to Massachusetts within the last year or so. He’s originally from Arkansas. He remarked how difficult it is for him to go back home due to the culture. “People down there still have the color thing going on. I don’t think things are ever going to change.”

I have a pet peeve. I do believe linguistics form mindsets. That we refer to ourselves as ‘black’ and ‘white’ to me is problematic – because most of us are neither yet the wording sets us in extremes rather than shadings. And if we’re ‘African American’ then we’re also ‘European American’ (in my case, because my ancestors come from Italy, France, Austria, England and Germany – at the very least – that’s a long list. Along with the fact that we’re actually all African American, since Africa’s the birthplace of our human species.

From my research for the story I discovered another piece of information that tickled my deep love of irony: we with lighter skin are mutants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_skin When humans moved up north from Africa way back when, those with mutant cells for pigment survived better because the weaker sun’s rays up north could be absorbed more readily by lighter skin, since darker skin acts as a natural sunscreen.